ALMOST a third of children in Swindon under the age of five have tooth decay, new figures have revealed.

Public Health England has revealed the figures for each local authority in the country and the figure in Swindon is above the national average.

The figures show 27.9 per cent of youngsters have tooth decay to some degree in the borough, compared with 24.7 per cent across the country. By contrast, the Wiltshire figure is 21.8 per cent.

Across the country the rate of tooth decay in children under the age of five is falling but it remains a big problem.

Swindon Borough Council has said it has started a number of initiatives to try and bring the figure down.

Cherry Jones, public health director at Swindon Borough Council, said: “We are committed to reducing the prevalence of tooth decay among young children in the Borough, recognising that it’s a very painful but largely preventable problem.

“To help address this the council commissions the Great Western Hospital to provide an oral health promotion service, which involves encouraging children and their families to visit the dentist regularly and look after their teeth on a daily basis by minimising the consumption of sugary food and drinks and ensuring thorough cleaning habits are instilled from an early age.”

Educating parents is also seen as a key way of ensuring children grow up with a healthy set of teeth.

“Our Healthy Schools initiative also supports these goals and we are promoting national tools, such as the free Change4Life Sugar Smart app which allows people to both measure and cut back on how much sugar they are consuming,” said Cherry.

“These help people to be aware of not just the obvious sugary culprits, like sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks, but also the hidden sugars often found in yoghurt, cereal and fruit juice for instance, as well as recommending tasty alternatives.”

The Local Government Association, of which Swindon is a member, has also called for more to be done to highlight the amount of sugar consumed by children.

Community Wellbeing spokeswoman, Izzi Seccombe, said: "The figures show even at a very early age, children are consuming too much food and drink high in sugar, far too often.

"To help tackle this, councils want to raise awareness of the risks of excessive sugar consumption and promote tap water in schools, nurseries and restaurants.

"We believe it is vital we take steps to improve our children's dental hygiene, which affects a child's ability to sleep, eat, play and learn at school, with many councils already running successful oral health improvement programmes in their communities."